Glenn Wenzel has been climbing Mount Rubidoux in Riverside for decades and has penned two books about it. “He is the ultimate source to go to for the history of the mountain,” a friend says. We climb it together for my Sunday column.
I drop by Ontario Bakery again and find them hard at work fulfilling cake orders and drying customers’ tears before its final day Saturday. The owners are touched by how much everyone cares. Also, a church in Pomona is set to mark 135 years. Read about both in Friday’s column.
Actor is friendly with fans during taping on location in Claremont. Also: items about another mural about L.A. history, my column on my 2021 reading and, on a related note, Claremont’s On the Same Page community read, all in Wednesday’s column.
At the San Bernardino County Museum, artist Barbara Gothard of Palm Springs has produced an exhibit devoted to the Black homesteaders who settled in the Mojave Desert in the early 20th century. They had a hard life, as you’d expect. I talk to her about the show, which was inspired by a Joe Blackstock column, in my Sunday column.
The San Bernardino City Council is the gift that keeps on giving, as the decision to put the mayor’s job before voters is vetoed by the mayor (!), reconsidered by the council and voted down. I watch the fun and report the results in Friday’s column.
A donation of materials to the University of La Verne includes grower records, photos, advertising art, even a smudge pot, all related to the citrus industry. I visit archivist Ben Jenkins for my Wednesday column.
Ontario Bakery has been in the same couple’s hands for 40 years. They’re retiring later this month and closing the shop. They’re the subject of my Sunday column.
Why does Redlands have a Lincoln Shrine, the only such monument west of the Mississippi? I find out for my Friday column.
Ontario’s old Casa Blanca hotel was notable for at least two incidents, one great, one terrible. Charlie Chaplin visited, and nearly 40 years later, a reserve officer was shot to death on the veranda. I delve into the history in my Wednesday column.
Following up on a column from January, I share some of the comments (there were a lot) on how to define the Inland Empire’s geography in my Sunday column.